Live from the "Brewers On Deck" fan fest

Ryan Braun says he's open to trying not only first base but also second base in spring training. "We’ve had a few conversations about second base, a few conversations about first base. I’ll play wherever they want me to play," he said this morning at Brewers On Deck.

Braun, when asked if he has fond memories of playing the infield: "Shortstop, yes. Second base, yes, Third base, not so much. And I’ve actually never played first, but I’m confident that I’ll put the work in and do the best that I can."

Not surprisingly, Braun is glad the Brewers have shifted to contend mode. "I’m excited, as I think everybody else is. Without a doubt we’re a much better baseball team than we were a week ago. You want to be in a position where you're adding talent instead of subtracting talent."

Braun compared adding Christian Yelich and Lorenzo Cain to trading for CC Sabathia in 2008 and Zack Greinke and Shaun Marcum in 2011. "It sends a message to the group that they believe in us and that the expectation is now to win, that we’ve gone beyond the rebuilding phase."

Braun said he's had a healthy offseason to date. "I’m in a good place physically; I think everybody feels good in the offseason. But everything’s going well. Body feels great, and just excited and looking forward to getting started here in a few weeks."

Even though Ryan Braun mentioned he was open to playing some 2B as well if #Brewers needed it, I wouldn't look for that to happen. If he looks OK at 1B, that could happen some as a RH alternative to Thames. That would leave them to figure out what to do with Aguilar.

Attanasio said there was a meeting of the front office brain trust in October and the decision was made that 2018 was just as important as 2020 in this rebuild. Thus, Yelich and Cain (and it sounds like more to come).

Listening to #Brewers owner Mark Attanasio a few minutes ago, I'd be more surprised than not if the team did not add another starting pitcher. And sounds like it could go either way -- trade or free agency.

Counsell says the locks for the starting rotation at this point are Chase Anderson, Zach Davies and Jhoulys Chacin. The "next group" would be Brandon Woodruff, Brent Suter, Yovani Gallardo, Junior Guerra and Aaron Wilkerson.